Now enter airports with just soft copies of your tickets

According to fresh orders from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), air passengers can now display their tickets on their smartphones, tablets and laptops during entry at airports—breaking away from the current scene. The BCAS is the nodal agency for civil aviation security in the country.

Air travellers in India would know that thus far they could carry a printout of their tickets along with a valid identity card to be able enter airports. This move is welcome as it will be easier for tech-savvy passengers to have their tickets on them and will also be able to produce them whenever needed.

Since the move also means that users will not have to take prints of their tickets any more and thus save on paper, it is being perceived as an environmentally-friendly one. Currently, if passengers need to take prints of their e-tickets at airports, they are expected to pay anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 100. Taking the new order into consideration, this expenditure can also be ruled out.

Flying paperless (Image credit: Getty Images)

Plus, having one’s ticket on their phone, presumably on their email or tucked away separately as a PDF file, is always a safer option, since a passenger will always have access to his ticket, if he misplaces a hard copy. By having it on his smartphone, tablet or laptop—gadgets that people commonly carry, travelers will have their tickets safe and ready to produce whenever needed. The decision makes practical sense too, since the details of the passener will be visible clearly on the soft copy of the ticket.

While still a novelty in our country, the procedure is fairly common elsewhere in the world. Indian Railways already allows its passengers to produce a soft copy of their tickets. The move is almost a year old now and became quite popular among passengers. The move to introduce paperless ticketing for the benefit of air passengers has been a long-standing demand, and with it now being implemented, the industry is sure to earn some much needed brownie points.

Several attempts to contact BCAS officials bore no fruit, since we could not get through to the numbers listed on their website.

Slowly and surely, the trends in India are shifting towards the smarter devices, and in such a scenario, adapting to changes seems to be the next logical step. Has the move been implemented yet? Tell us what you think about it.